Maralinga atomic testing ground

Canberra : Australian News and Information Bureau, 1957. Two press photographs, black and white prints on glossy printing out paper, each 165 x 215 mm, versos with typed labels date stamped April 2, 1957, with Australian Government propaganda  about the preparation for a series of tests which would be carried out later in 1957. Both prints are in condition.

The British Government tested its first nuclear weapon in Australia at the Montebello Islands off Western Australia in 1952. The first mainland test was conducted in 1953 at Emu Field in far northwest South Australia. Maralinga, also in western South Australia, was then chosen as the main site for atomic testing. The first tests at Maralinga were conducted in 1956. The present press photographs, taken in April 1957, show preparations at Maralinga for the Tadje, Blak and Taranaki detonations which were carried out in September and October of that year. The text of the labels on the back of the photographs makes no mention of the Indigenous traditional owners of the land in this region, the Tjarutja people, who suffered horrific long-term illnesses and virtually permanent contamination of their lands as a result of the testing. In 1994, the Australian Government was finally forced to pay compensation amounting to $13.5 million to the Tjarutja.